The Northern Lights
by Green.Finch
Summary: The Vikings of Berk & the Highlanders have forged an alliance. At the very first festival celebrating this peace treaty, our Princess Merida finally gets her dream of meeting an actual dragon. However tensions run high among the heads of the clans, disputes over the details of the treaty erupt, leaving the the young Princess & the Dragon Rider their only hope of reconcile.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, thanks for reading my fanfiction. This is my second fanfiction, a mericcup story. I'm pretty much in love with this pairing. Please note, I will not be writing Merida or any other character with an accent, due to the fact that I just don't trust myself in writing her accent properly. I'd rather not have it in here and leave it up to the reader, than to absolutely butcher it. Leave a review or whatnot if you liked it and would like to see more. :)**

The Northern Lights.

The castle of DunBroch was thriving with life in the early hours of the morning. Not that it wasn't normally a busy place during the day, it was even more so this one particular morning. The house maids cleaned and prepared each guest room. Chefs worked furiously to cook for the grandeur feasts that would be held later that day. Decorations and activities were being set up all around the castle and grounds. The Bear King Fergus and Queen Elinor slept on, undisturbed. Not too far from them, three orange terrors by the names of Harris, Hubert and Hamish snored in unison. And none too far from them, the young princess Merida snuggled deeper into her blankets. She rolled over, a slit of pale sunlight falling onto her face, waking her. She mumbled softly in her sleep, then gasped. Sitting bolt up right, suddenly realising what day it was, Merida knew sleep would evade her. A huge grin spread across her face as she jumped from her bed to the window and pulled back the curtains. It was still early, but she could tell today would be a glorious day. She began hastily getting dressed and gathering her things. As Merida grabbed her bow and quiver full with arrows, her eyes fell on one of the few books her mother had given her for 'princess lessons' that had actually interested her. The title read "Myths and Legends: The Study of Folklore in Highland". The book lay open, Merida having poured herself over it more than a hundred times since being informed of today's events mere weeks ago. She looked at the figure on the page, grinning again.

"_Dragons!_"

* * *

Not so far away from Castle Dunbroch, ships aplenty headed for the shoreline of Highland. Accompanied by a few dragons and their respective riders, they sailed steadily from the Isle of Berk. At the head of the pack was a young man, Hiccup, riding on a Night Fury. He leant down and gave an affectionate pat to the dark-scaled dragon, who flicked his head in return.

"Not too much further, Toothless. We're nearly there, bud."

He turned around in his seat to check on the others. A young woman with blonde hair riding a Deadly Napper was not too far from him. Astrid gave him the thumbs up, signalling everything was fine. Next to her rode Ruffnut and Tuffnut on the Hideous Zippleback. They seemed to be bickering about something, although Hiccup couldn't tell. Behind them, Snotlout was attempting to do some impressive trick with his Monstrous Nightmare, no doubt in the hopes Astrid would notice. However as usual the dragon would not comply with Snotlout's confusing directions, instead doing a strange spinning motion and crashing into Fishlegs who was nearly unseated from his Gronkle. As he righted himself however, the gronkle sent a small ball of fire at Snotlout, narrowly missing his left ear.

"Hey! Keep it together back there!" Hiccup yelled as Snotlout looked ready for a fight.

The last thing he needed was his father, Chief Stoick to look up at the dragons leading their entire tribe across the sea to a newly forged ally, only to see them fighting amongst themselves like pups. He turned back around to face the front, greeted by the sight of land in the distance.

"Better tell Dad. C'mon Toothless".

The dragon dipped obediently towards the huge ship that led the fleet, where his father sailed.

* * *

"Good Morning, Princess!"  
"Morning, my lady!"  
"My princess!"

All the guards greeted Merida accordingly as she ran through the castle corridors, not giving any so much as a speck of attention. She tore into the kitchen and remained long enough to steal a good few apples, some bread and a small pot of honey. Shoving them all into a small bag, she was off again. Long gone were the times where the guards and servants had actually tried to tell her to walk, not run. She reached the castles main doors and ran down the steps to the stables, where a stable hand was grooming Angus. Merida waited unseen until the stable hand left to get a fresh pail of water.

"G'morning Angus! Today's the day!" Merida said, barely able to contain her excitement.

Angus huffed, clearly not sharing her enthusiasm.

"I knew you'd be like that" Merida said reaching into her bag and producing a shiny red apple. "That's why I brought this. What do you say now, hm?"

Angus whinnied happily and munched up the tasty fruit from Merida's open palm. Within seconds Merida had saddled and reined Angus, jumping up onto his back. She dug her heels slightly into his sides and he took off, nearly knocking over the unsuspecting stable hand completely. Merida laughed as she heard the cries of the poor woman. Merida and Angus rode through the gates and into the forest, like so many times before. As they delved deeper into the forest, Merida equipped her bow and notched an arrow. She shot the first target hanging from a tree easily, pulling another arrow from her quiver. Angus picked up speed as they travelled along their path, Merida shooting her targets, never missing a single one. They made it to their destination, a clearing on one of the highest edges of the forest that overlooked the shoreline perfectly not much later. Here, she would have the first glimpse of their guests arriving. Merida dismounted from Angus, removing his saddle so he could graze the clearing in comfort. Sitting down on the grass she made a small breakfast for herself. The sun had truly began to shine down on her kingdom now, Merida happily lazing in it's warmth, munching on an apple. She sat there, for some time, waiting. She had been cleaning in the nooks of her bow when she first heard a distant roar, causing her to look up. Another roar, this time much closer and Merida looked intently at the sky. Suddenly, a dark figure flew from out of a cloud and Merida recognised it immediately as a dragon. Meridas heart skipped a beat and she stood up as 4 different looking dragons shot out after the first. There were people riding them, she noticed as they got closer. They sailed directly overhead Merida and she seen a brown haired boy on the first dragon look over it's wing, down at her. She jumped around unable to contain her excitement. Within seconds, all of the dragons had disappeared behind the tree tops. Merida saddled Angus and together they raced back to the castle faster than ever before.

* * *

Toothless flew alongside the lead ship, where Chief Stoick stood talking to Hiccup.

"I see it son. You best get back up there with the others."

Hiccup nodded and directed Toothless back up into sky where the others were flying. The clouds had gotten a lot thicker the closer they got to land. The riders had just flown into a particularly thick cloud, preventing them from seeing much until it they broke free. Immediately the vase lands opened up before them, all green and trees and wide fields. Hiccup looked down at the shoreline, to see someone on the cliffside, watching them fly over. It was a girl, from what he could tell of her figure, with vibrantly wild orange hair. The riders flew over the forest tops, circling back to meet with the rest of the tribe which had now begun to arrive on the docks.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** **Hi guys, sorry this took so long. I'm working on chapter 3 already, so hopefully there won't be as long as a gap between chapters as the 1st and 2nd. Hope you like it.**

Queen Elinor was pacing back and forth at the castle doors when Merida and Angus finally arrived. The Queen let out a sigh of relief, hurriedly descending the steps to meet her daughter. Angus stopped short of the Queen and Merida climbed off, already mid-sentence.

"..you see them?! They're so big, Mum! And fast! And the Vikings were riding them! Maybe I could -" Merida babbled on excitedly but her mother cut her short.

"Merida, I will not have you riding dragons! The Vikings are here for the festival, to complete the peace treaty. We need this to go smoothly, _especially_ now it seems they have these beasts at their every call and whim. Just picture that thought as a pebble in your hand and cast it across the lake."

"But Mum! I-"

"Please Merida, for your kingdom, just _behave_." Elinor took Meridas hands in her own.

"Alright, Mum." Merida huffed.

Satisfied, Elinor took a step back and took in her ratted appearance. Sighing again she escorted Merida back into the castle where Merida would be thrown into the a bath tub, argue further about her attire and eventually agree to wear the dress her mother had planned for her so long as she let her hair free. Once both the Queen and princess were ready, they headed back to the front of the castle where they would meet the King and the triplets, already awaiting the arrival of the Vikings. While the guards and King watched the only road from the forest to the castle, Merida kept her eyes on the skies. And finally, after what seemed like an age, the first glimpse of a dragon appeared.

* * *

A few of the castles guards had come down to meet the Vikings at the shore and escort them to the castle. The tribe had already began making it's way to the castle, only a few stragglers were left behind, people caring for the ships, Hiccup and Toothless. He said he would catch up with them, Astrid giving him a concerned look as they left. As far as _he_ was concerned, she needn't be. Things between them had been strained, at the best. Astrid was hot and cold and Hiccup never knew where he stood with her. They were still close friends, and though they had agreed to just remain so Hiccup had not felt so remorseful as he had expected to. He watched Toothless play with a crab on a rock nearby and envied such simplicity.

After he and Toothless had defeated the Red Death, the rest of the tribe had truly accepted him as one of their own. Hiccups father had listened to him more nowadays, with some exceptions. People don't change overnight and Hiccup was no exception to this either. And yet he had since had this feeling hanging over him that he now had to live up this expectation of himself. He flopped down beside Toothless in the sand, who was now watching the small fish scurry about in the rock pools.

"You don't know how good you got it, bud. No expectations, no responsibilities. Nope, just you and as much fish as you can eat."

Toothless looked up at him at that precise moment with a fish hanging out of his mouth. Hiccup gave a small laugh as the tiny fish managed to wiggle free of its captor and fall back into the water below. Toothless didn't look too upset at his lost prize, instead flicking water at Hiccup with his tail.

"H-Hey!" Hiccup spluttered, copping it square in the face. He splashed water back at Toothless and made to make a quick escape, but didn't get very far. The dragon followed and pounced on him lightly, causing him to fall on the sand. They wrestled and played on the beach for awhile before Hiccup submitted defeat.

"Okay, okay! You win!" Hiccup said putting his hands in the air. "Come on bud, we gotta get going or Dad will serve us both for the feast."

Toothless shook the sand from his scales and Hiccup mounted the dragon, checking his saddle. They took off running, becoming airborne with a jump. Together they flew off to catch up with the others on their way to the castle.

It hadn't taken Hiccup and Toothless long to catch up with the others. Hiccup ignored Astrids questioning look. He would answer her later, if he felt like it. They reached the outskirts of the forest and got their first look at the castle. A grand architecture, Hiccup had thought. It was quite big and well fortified with tall walls and plenty of watchtowers. The riders landed near the edge of the forest and entered DunBroch castle with the rest of the tribe. Awaiting their arrival was a rather large man not unlike his own father and a tall woman who Hiccup assumed was the King and Queen. Alongside them stood a young girl and Hiccup immediately recognised her as the girl he had seen on the cliffside. She stood in her spot restlessly. Next to her three little boys were standing with mischievous grins on their faces that made Hiccup feel anxious for some reason.

Chief Stoick and King Fergus greeted each other like life long friends, grasping each others enormous hands and guffawing loudly.

"Fergus, the great Bear King himself! It is good to finally put a face to the legend!" Stoick boasted.

"Aye and to you Stoick! This is my wife, Elinor, daughter Merida and sons Hamish, Hubert and Harris" Fergus said and Stoick bowed respectfully.

"My son, Hic- where is he?" Stoick had begun to introduce, then looked around at the crowd behind him. Hiccup was hidden behind Snotlout when Stoick found him and pulled him out of the crowd. "My son, Hiccup."

Hiccup gave an awkward wave. He hated being in the spotlight and almost always ruined the situation no matter how hard he tried not to.

"I see now how you killed all those bears, with that face!" And there it was. He regretted it the instant the words left his mouth.

Fergus gave him a strange look, while his father glowered at him. There was a snigger from somewhere behind him and Hiccup noticed Merida had bitten down on her hand to prevent herself from laughing.

"Er, gentlemen, shall we move to the grounds where the festival will begin shortly?" Queen Elinor suggested and they agreed.

Hiccup covered his face in embarrassment as the rest of the tribe muttered and whispered discouragement at him as they passed.

"That was a good one!" Hiccup looked out from under his hand and seen Merida standing in front of him. "I'll use that again!"

Now that she stood before him, Hiccup could see her face properly. Hidden beneath the fiery curls were beautiful cerulean blue eyes, freckles across a small nose and slightly pink cheeks. She certainly was beautiful enough to fit the title of 'Princess' Hiccup thought to himself quietly.

"I don't think I will." Hiccup replied, somewhat relieved he hadn't offended their _entire_ kingdom with his first sentence said.

"Is.. is that your dragon?" Merida asked, indicating at Toothless who sat waiting not too far from them. "I saw you riding him over the cliffs." She sounded slightly nervous.

"Yeah, that's Toothless. You want to meet him?" Hiccup asked and Merida had jumped in excitement.

"Yes!"

They walked over to where Toothless sat, Merida standing a bit further away from him.

"Toothless, this is Merida. Merida, Toothless." Hiccup introduced them.

Merida stood transfixed at the creature before her, eyes wide with excitement and trepidation.

"He is beautiful" She said quietly, moving slowly closer to him.

She lifted a hand, then faltered.

"May I?" She asked them both.

Toothless studied Merida for quite some time, then gave a slow blink of acceptance to Hiccup, who took Meridas hand and slowly placed it on Toothless' nose. Merida let out a sigh of amazement, a grin spreading across her face. She slowly stroked the dragon, feeling the smooth scales underneath her fingers. It was a strange feeling, nothing that Merida could liken it to. An expression of pure wonderment rested across Meridas face and Hiccup couldn't help but be reminded of the first time Toothless allowed him the same grace.

"Of course it takes you three seconds to go from meeting to touching. Meanwhile, it took me weeks to even sketch near him." Hiccup said and Toothless gave him a reproachful look.

"You know I'm joking, bud." Hiccup reassured him.

"You really understand each other." Merida said, not taking her eyes off Toothless.

"He's my best friend." Hiccup replied.

"Don't feel too bad about the acceptance thing." Merida said. "When we first got Angus, my horse, no one was able to even look at him except me. He still doesn't let just anyone ride him. I'm not sure what it is, that makes them trust me more than others, they just do."

Hiccup, however, had an inkling. He looked at Merida and her appearance gave her the look of nature itself personified. Wild, untamable. Her body language and face however told another story. There was kindness and understanding in Meridas eyes as she looked at Toothless, a desperate want for friendship.

"Are you okay?" Merida asked, bringing Hiccup out of his reverie and he realised he had been staring at her.

"Gres!" Hiccup blurted out and Merida gave him a confused look. "I mean't to say yes but I started to say great" Hiccup explained, horrified.

Merida chuckled and Hiccup was spared further embarrassment as the Queen called for her from inside the castle. She gave one last grateful pat to Toothless and made her way back to the castle.

"So, I guess I'll see you later?" Hiccup called after her.

"Gres!" Merida called back, laughing still.

Hiccup smiled slightly and looked over at Toothless who had a strange look on his face. Toothless gave Hiccup a look as if to say '_real smooth, hotshot._'

"Alright, alright" Hiccup said gently pushing the dragons face away from his. Together they made their way around the castle and to the grounds where the festival was about to begin.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello all! Sorry for the loooong break. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy and please review! EDIT: Made some minor story changes in this chapter that didn't sit right with me originally. :)**

Merida ran up to her mother but quickly slowed to a respectable brisk walk, seeing her expression.

"Sorry." She said slightly out of breath.

"I see you're making friends." Elinor said, ignoring her daughters very unladylike behaviour

"I didn't do anything, Mum, I swear, we were only talking and-" Merida rushed on but her mother held up a hand to stop her.

"I know dear. I trust you. It is a _good_ thing you're being sociable. Even if it is with the dragons. It shows the Vikings our willingness to be allies." Elinor said as they walked through to the kitchens.

The Queen was inspecting the food that was to be brought out later, deeming it adequate or not for their guests.

"I thought you said for me to throw that thought in a puddle or something." Merida said suspiciously.

"I asked you not to go _riding_ a dragon. I have no problem with them becoming familiar with you, to an extent, so long as one of the Viking riders is present. It may very well save your life one day. Though, maybe next time you can choose one of the stronger looking riders than that boy. I know he's the chief's son, but.." Elinor trailed off, investigating a bubbling pot filled with a strange orange stew Merida had never seen or tasted before.

"Hiccup is fine." Merida protested. Though she would agree silently with her mother that he may not look the most muscular of the Vikings, she could see he was stronger in other ways. Merida sensed compassion, empathy, intelligence from him, something that made him seem different to the other Vikings. And while he had a slightly awkward demeanour about him, Merida found it rather endearing. He was kind of cute, too.

"Are you blushing?" Elinor asked slightly taken aback.

"What?! No!" Merida said, hiding her face under her hands.

Elinor gave Merida one of her all-knowing smiles but let the matter slide. The Queen spoke with the servants for some time and then with Merida, they made their way to grounds and joined the clans. Merida had noticed the festival was already well on its way, crowds forming around many of the games and entertainment. Across the way Merida could see her father and Stoick engaged in an arm wrestling contest, surrounded by men and women cheering them on.

"That won't end well" Merida gestured at the men, to her mother.

As if on cue, there was a loud yell and crashing sound that came from that direction. Skirmishes broke out among the crowd and chairs were thrown in every direction. Elinor sighed and walked down to the raucous. Merida watched from a distance as her mother parted the fighting men and women like so many times before without so much as saying a word. Elinor turned and addressed the rowdy bunch, every part the image of grace and authority. She couldn't hear what she was saying, but Merida knew it was something eloquent and regal as usual. The crowd calmed down and dispersed, some went off to collect the tossed furniture, others joined different crowds. Meridas attention turned to another area, where most of the young Highlanders and Vikings were sparring and generally loitering. She made her way down to the training area, spotting Hiccup not too far from the weapons table.

"Enjoying the festivities?" Merida asked as she tapped him on the shoulder.

"H-hi, Merida" Hiccup said slightly startled. "Oh.. yeah. Hurling axes and swords at each other, completely unprotected. What's not to love?".

Merida smiled at his sarcastic comment. "Where are your dragons?" She asked curiously.

"Hunting or resting. It was a long flight. They get restless quickly." Hiccup answered.

Merida nodded, intent on questioning Hiccup more about the dragons when they were joined by the other Vikings, trying to get to the weapons. Most of them ignored Merida and Hiccup, except one, who did a sort of double take and then gave Merida a strange expression.

"Well, hello there princess. I don't believe we've met." He said, rudely shoving Hiccup out of the way. The boy grabbed Meridas hand and made to kiss it, when she abruptly pulled it back.

"And you are?" She asked him.

"This is my cousin, Snotlout." Hiccup answered, rubbing his arm.

"Don't bother wasting your time with this small fry, babe." Snotlout gestured to Hiccup, who rolled his eyes. "How about a one on one match, me and you, huh?"

He still had that ridiculous expression on his face and it took all of Meridas strength to not simply laugh in it. She would have liked nothing more than to wipe that smug smile off his face. However, Merida remembered her promise to her mother and attempted to ignore her annoyance.

"I will pass on that offer, thank you" Merida replied in a monotone voice.

Snotlout huffed slightly, turning away from Merida.

"She's probably never even touched a blade. She's just a weak little princess." He said to the others behind them, some of whom sniggered.

Meridas jaw tightened. _Weak, was she?_

She turned on the spot and pushed the Vikings aside from the weapons table. Normally, she would have gone straight for a bow, but there was none present so she picked the next best thing and scooped up 5 daggers. Merida strode by the group calmly and stood a distance from one of the training dummies set up. The Vikings watched, Hiccup included, as Merida aimed and hit the dummy with 4 daggers, embedded with great force.

Merida turned to the group and raised one eye brow at Snotlout, a self-pleased expression on her face.

"Beginners luck. Besides, anyone can throw knives." Snotlout chaffed to others.

Snotlout failed to notice Merida still had one dagger in her hand. In one quick motion, she threw the dagger at the rope suspending the bench he was leaning on. The bench buckled under the unexpected weight and Snotlout lost his balance. He staggered for a few seconds then promptly fell backwards in to a water trough. Everyone burst out in to fits of laughter as Snotlout sat in shock, soaking wet. He angrily pulled himself out of the trough, water sopping everywhere.

"You did that on purpose!" Snotlout wagged a finger at Merida.

"Maybe next time you'll think twice about calling someone weak. _Especially_ a princess." She replied coolly.

He huffed angrily and walked off, his shoes squelching along with him. The rest of the crowd dispersed and Hiccup turned to Merida.

"Sorry about Snotlout. He always gets like that around beautiful women." Hiccup said rolling his eyes.

"Do you think I'm beautiful?" Merida asked cheekily.

Hiccup froze, realising the implication of what he had said. "No! I mean yes! Er, what I meant was, uh, that you are very, um, you have a certain ahhh -" He stammered but Merida cut him off.

"It's ok, I know what you meant." She laughed and Hiccup looked relieved.

They stood in an awkward silence, both wanting to continue the conversation but not knowing what to say to each other. Merida broke it soon, her curiosity overpowering her.

"Are there many dragons on Berk?" She questioned.

"Oh, yeah. Well, now there is, now that they're not our enemies anymore." Hiccup replied, fiddling with the cuff of his sleeve. "Being the stubborn headed folk we are, we fought the dragons and blamed them for every bad thing that happened on Berk for a long time."

"So what changed?" Merida asked as they began to walk away from the training area and along the edge of the grounds.

"Ah.. it's a long boring story. I'll only put you to sleep." Hiccup replied.

Merida flopped down beneath the shade of a tree and gave Hiccup an expectant smile. He sighed and sat down next to her. Merida listened intently, as Hiccup recalled the events of becoming allies with the dragons. The night he captured Toothless with his catapult device, his one-man search party the next morning and freeing the helpless dragon. His fruitless attempts to get close to Toothless, the strained relationship between his father and himself. She laughed with him at his pitiful attempts at dragon training, then gave a small cheer when he started to 'cheat' his way through them.

With every part of the story unfolding, her expression grew more curious with enthusiasm. Hiccup noticed she chewed her bottom lip ever so slightly, her eyes, wide and attentive. No one had looked at him like this while he was talking, not even Astrid. It made him painfully obvious about every little awkward movement or gesture he made. When he had finished telling the tale, Merida sat in silence for a minute or so, thinking.

"That's a pretty amazing story." Merida admitted.

Hiccup gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

"Mines better." Merida added with a wicked grin.


End file.
